Topic: Study: 46% of Retailers Sell M-Rated Games to Minors

[WindyMan]

An undercover investigation found that many stores aren't adhering to ESRB rating policies.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14857

 The San Diego East County Youth Coalition, in conjunction with the National Institute on Media and Family and other youth-oriented organizations, has found that 46% of stores involved in an undercover investigation sold M-rated video games to minors.    

The two-month study found that despite ESRB recommendations and widespread game retailer policies dictating that no game rated M for Mature be sold to minors under the age of 17, almost half of the more than 60 stores checked did so anyway.  The study found that children as young as seven years old could walk in to a store and purchase an M-rated game without issue.    

As a result of these findings, the Youth Coalition and other groups have called on stores to take action.  They want store employees to be trained on the ratings system, better display the ESRB ratings in-store, and keep mature-themed games separate from more tame games, among other things.

[Madcat221]

What are the ratings restriction compliance rates for the sale of R-rated movies and Parental Advisory CDs?

[BlackNMild2k1]

I know that they ask for ID at the theaters, but since I have neither bought a DVD or CD in years, I have no idea how they would handle R rated movies or Explicit Lyrics warnings in stores.

[Crimm]

If this study is accurate then it is a very sad thing.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I'm sure its accurate to the 60 stores they visited in the San Diego area

[Crimm]

I know I've seen clerks sell T games to clearly not-T children.  But if they're selling M games...jeez.

[Kairon]

Wow, that's a real shame.

[pSYCO-gAMER321]

Well that is certainly some bad news there...

[mantidor]

well, duh... I can't believe people are actually surprised by this news or is it "these"?.I've hardly seen an adult play games like GTA or Manhunt, its always 12 year olds.  

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

TAKE THAT INDUSTRY,

YOU GOT SERVED

[Kairon]

Sounds like a lot of Gamestop employees are gonna get fired.

[KDR_11k]

Wait, a technicality: M is 17 and over, a 17 year old is a minor but still in the age range M allows.

[Morari]

CENSORED FOR YOUR PROTECTION

[darknight06]

They may not be there to watch the kids, but I can guarantee you that the store or outlet most certainly does have a policy concerning the sale of movies and games in regards to their ratings.  If you have employees that don't follow those procedures, then they darn well are part of the problem.

While I do agree with the idea that parents do have to watch out for their children, it's also a fact that there's a million more things that a kid can get into these days.  Just because someone feels like or actually are allowed to sell an M rated game to some kid sure doesn't as heck doesn't mean that they should.  You can't let parents off the hook, but you certainly can't let idiots like that who should know better off either.  Everybody likes to throw the blame at one thing when in all the essence everybody in the scenario has screwed up in some form and none want to admit to it.    

[Kairon]

It takes a village to raise a kid. A village of government oversight, corporate conglomerates, malls and retailers, television ads, and sweet, sweet, confections.

[Guitar Smasher]

Just make it like buying cigarettes.  Issue fines to stores that don't comply.  Simple.

...except that Take-Two and other M publishers will lose a significant portion of their marketplace.  But they don't have to make M games, now do they?  

[GoldenPhoenix]

Quote
Originally posted by: Guitar Smasher

...except that Take-Two and other M publishers will lose a significant portion of their marketplace.  But they don't have to make M games, now do they?

Actually I think they do, if you took away the "mature" in Rockstar games you wouldn't have anything because the developers are inept at doing anything else.  

[shammack]

This is pretty misleading.  The source indicates that it was 46% of 60 stores in San Diego county.  That's way too small and too localized a sample to draw any sort of conclusions about nationwide trends.  The 17-year-old loophole is important, too; I certainly wouldn't put it past the groups behind this research to exploit it to help them get the conclusions they want (they clearly have an agenda; just look at their web site), but since there's no mention of their methodology we can't know for sure.

But frankly, even if it this is an accurate representation, it's a big "so what."  The whole not selling M-rated games to people under 17 thing is just a voluntary policy that some stores have introduced, but they have no legal obligation to do so (despite what the San Diego East County Youth Coalition wants you to think).  A more interesting statistic might be to find out what percentage of the stores had employees that were violating the store policy (if applicable), but the figure would probably be less alarming, so they didn't look into that.

This is obviously just FUD orchestrated to get soccer moms to sign petitions so their local lawmakers can introduce yet another bill trying to turn store policy into law, which will then be roundly rejected by federal judges, just like the last several times.  Pretty pathetic.

[KDR_11k]

Morari, how do you realistically expect parents to watch their children all day? Last I checked employers don't like having people wander off during work hours. Do you expect one of the parents to quit their job for the whole 18 years? It's already financially unsound enough to have a kid. Preventing sales to minors allows the parent to parent without putting a leash on the kid (which would be severely damaging for the development of the kid since it would never learn how to act independently), if the parent really doesn't care about the games then surely the parent can take the time to buy the game for the kid?

As for legislation to that effect, while it might be a good idea to make all ratings (on all media) binding the US constitution was not designed with that feature so the US cannot have such a law. Either they need to update their constitution (should update their voting system while they're at it) or they need to forget about the idea.

[NWR_insanolord]

They most certainly should not amend the constitution and restrict freedom of speech for something as trivial as this. I applaud retailers for enacting policies to require ID and not sell M rated games to people under 17, but the government shouldn't have the kind of power necessary for the kind of legislation they're going for.

[UncleBob]

Quote
Originally posted by: Guitar Smasher
Just make it like buying cigarettes.  Issue fines to stores that don't comply.  Simple.

Exactly what insanolord said - It's one thing for retailers to make such policies, it's a whole different story for the government to step in and decide who should be allowed access to what kind of speech.

[Guitar Smasher]

How is it any different than fining a tv station for flashing a breast during daytime programming?  Surely restricting the sales of certain games period would be a whole different story than restricting the sales to certain age groups.

[Bartman3010]

I find it hilarious for parents who want to be hesitant in presenting ID when it came to purchasing M-rated games. One would think that the same people who want these kinds of laws to be present dont want to follow the same law theirselves. Hypocrite USA, population: Dozens.

For the record, I never sold an M rated title to minors when I worked at a game store for a month, whether they insulted me or not.